2015-07-23 11:34:00

UN rights experts hail Zambia’s move away from death penalty


United Nations human rights experts welcomed a recent decision by the President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, to commute the death sentences of 332 individuals to life imprisonment. The UN Special Rapporteurs on summary executions, Christof Heyns, and on torture, Juan E. Méndez, also encouraged the Zambian authorities “to take a step further by removing all reference to the death penalty in the country’s laws.”  

President Lungu commuted the sentences after his visit to Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison, which despite a capacity of 51 inmates, houses hundreds.  “By commuting these death sentences, Zambia has put a stop to mental and physical pain and suffering and is taking an important step towards ensuring respect for the inherent dignity of the human person,” Mr. Mendez said.

“This decision is in line with the trend in Africa – as in the rest of the world – to move away from the death penalty. As the Secretary General of the UN has said, there is no room for this form of punishment in the 21st Century,” Mr. Heyns said.

The independent experts noted that President Lungu’s decision supports previous steps towards the abolition of capital punishment in the Zambia, where a presidential moratorium on the death penalty has been maintained since 1997. However, the UN called on the Zambian authorities to vote in favour of the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for a global moratorium, rather than abstaining, as they have in the previous four votes.

According to the Special Rapporteurs, three-quarters of the world States have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice and the same applies to Africa. In 2014 only four States in the region are known to have conducted executions. Earlier this month, Togo became Africa’s 12th state party to the 2nd Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.

(United Nations)

 








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